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Worst Case Scenario (episode)
The crew entertains itself with a holonovel about a mutiny on Voyager. Summary B'Elanna Torres looks apprehensive as she approaches the turbolift to report for duty, and even more so as Chakotay joins her casually. Once they are in the turbolift on their way to the bridge, Chakotay begins asking questions – the kind that could get an officer court martialed. It seems a mutiny is in the works; all of the Maquis and 25 of the Starfleet crew members are behind him, and he wants to know which side Torres is on. Aboard the bridge, Torres and the other officers go about their duties, pushing buttons as if they are doing something, when Captain Janeway announces she will be going off in a shuttlecraft with Tom Paris and leaves Chakotay in command of the ship. He has Harry Kim perform a diagnostic that shuts the transporters down before a pair of security personnel arrive with what Chakotay claims is the duty roster. As soon as Janeway's shuttle goes to warp, Chakotay tells all hands, "Let's do it," and begins his takeover, stunning Tuvok and Kim before moving on to the rest of the ship. Torres goes along with his plan. Then there is a surprise: they turn a corner to find Seska! The siege continues through the mess hall (where Neelix takes their side) and the rest of the ship until Chakotay is in control, with the senior officers in the brig and the rest of the loyal Starfleet personnel prisoners in an empty cargo bay. There, Chakotay announces his plan to drop the senior staff off at the nearest habitable planet and take Voyager straight home – without letting "Starfleet principles" get in the way. He offers the remaining crew the chance to join him, shortly before Paris enters the cargo bay and asks Torres what's going on. It is then revealed that this has all been a holo-program of the ship. Despite the obviously controversial nature and their duty to report it to the real Janeway, they agree that they need more information to give her a "full report" and re-start the program. This time, Paris walks down the corridor wearing an operations division gold uniform. Chakotay approaches Paris much as he did Torres, and knowing what will happen, Paris eagerly goes along with the plan. When it is time for Chakotay's mutiny, Paris attempts to warn Tuvok, but it is too late; once again, Tuvok and Kim are shot, but this time Paris joins them and the the other loyal Starfleet officers in the brig. There, Paris grows impatient with simply "waiting around", but Tuvok insists that they wait for an opportunity to overpower the enemy. Chakotay eventually comes along to take everyone but Tuvok and Kim to cargo bay one. There he gives the same speech as before, which inspires Paris to join him. Paris and Torres now discuss the holonovel eagerly in the mess hall, and Tom reveals that his constant switching caused Chakotay to assign him to menial tasks. As they talk about plans of attack, Neelix wanders by and reveals that he too has played the program. It seems Torres told the Doctor, who told Neelix, who promises his lips are sealed; but as he speaks, Kim joins them and reveals that he learned about it from Ayala. :"Lieutenant Paris's personal log: Stardate 50953.4. I've decided to take B'Elanna's advice and replay the holonovel, this time as a full-fledged member of Chakotay's team of mutineers. I hope it turns out better than before." Paris and the mutineers are on the bridge again, out of uniform and in control despite problems with the warp core likely the result of a saboteur. As Janeway and the holographic Paris return in their shuttle, she has a chilly reunion with Chakotay, who genuinely does not want to hurt anyone. However, she attacks Voyager head-on and beams aboard as it opens fire to destroy her shuttle. Chakotay and Paris take the turbolift to the brig, where Janeway and her former first officer shoot one another before Paris comes face-to-face with himself. At that moment, the simulation ends; it seems whoever wrote the program did not finish it, as no more parameters have been entered. Despite Torres' knowledge of computers and Neelix's gift of gab, no one is able to find the mysterious author of the holonovel. Janeway brings it up at the next senior staff meeting, by which time the program has been accessed 47 times by 33 different people. Of course, everyone present has tried it (save Janeway and Chakotay), but no one knows who made it, so she tells them to talk to their respective staff and find the author. However, Tuvok reveals that he himself wrote the program, not as a novel but as a tactical training exercise in the event of a Maquis takeover. When the two crews integrated, he saw no use for it and deleted it – until Torres recovered the file. Contrary to his expectations, Janeway and the crew are eager for an ending, so Paris volunteers to write one. Tuvok finds Paris in the mess hall to find that Tom wants to write the program so that Janeway retakes the ship and decides to execute the traitors. This does not meet with the Vulcan's logical goals, but Paris finds it fun. The two butt heads over the Dictates of Poetics versus pure fun until Torres and Neelix each drop by to offer suggestions, prompting the authors to go to the holodeck – where they find the Doctor waiting with his own set of suggestions. Once Tuvok gets rid of the Doctor, he has the holodeck open the narrative parameters file of the program and is greeted by Seska while the transporters shut down and the holodeck grid is scrambled. It seems the Cardassian spy found Tuvok's program some time ago and rewrote it so the ending will be not-so-happy for its participants. Log Entries *''Lieutenant Paris's personal log, stardate 50953.4. I've decided to take B'Elanna's advice and replay the holo-novel, this time … as a full-fledged member of Chakotay's team of mutineers. I hope it turns out better than before. '' Memorable Quotes "Under my command, we won't let almighty Federation principles get in the way of opportunities the way Janeway did when she destroyed the array that could have gotten us home. And we won't be wasting precious time stopping to investigate every insignificant anomaly that we come across. What we will do is use any means necessary to acquire technology that can shorten our journey. To hell with Starfleet regulations. You have fifteen minutes to make up your minds." :- Chakotay hologram to the remainder of the Starfleet officers "Remember the good old days when it was impossible to keep a secret on a ship this small?" :- Paris, on the anonymous author of Insurrection Alpha "I guess we should have known Seska wouldn't let a little thing like death stop her from getting even." :- Paris Background Information *The plot of this episode was adapted from DS9's "Dramatis Personae". *In Germany, this episode was instead named "Rebellion Alpha", after the holo-program (which was called "Insurrection Alpha" in the English version). Links and References Main Cast *Kate Mulgrew as Kathryn Janeway *Robert Beltran as Chakotay *Roxann Dawson as B'Elanna Torres *Jennifer Lien as Kes *Robert Duncan McNeill as Tom Paris *Ethan Phillips as Neelix *Robert Picardo as The Doctor *Tim Russ as Tuvok *Garrett Wang as Harry Kim Guest Stars * Martha Hackett as Seska Co-Stars * Majel Barrett as Computer Voice * Zach LeBeau as Larson (uncredited) * Michael Owen as O'Donnell (uncredited) * Tarik Ergin as Ayala (uncredited) * John Tempoya as Kashimuro Nozawa (uncredited) * Sue Henley as Brooks (uncredited) * Unknown as Carlson (uncredited) * Unknown as Michael Jonas (uncredited voice) * Unknown as Fitzpatrick (uncredited) References 47, auxiliary database, Bolian, Caretaker's array, coffee, compression phaser rifle, Dictates of Poetics, The, EPS conduit, holofiction, holo-matrix, holonovel, Insurrection Alpha, internal sensors, Jefferies tube, Maquis, mutiny, narrative parameters file, nitric acid, plasma extinguisher, pool, Rukani, Rukani sector, Rukani vessel, Rumba, Sandrine's, T'Hain, type-9 shuttlecraft, warp plasma manifold Category:VOY episodes de:Rebellion Alpha (Episode) nl:Worst Case Scenario